Seven Kids and a Really Big Robot
by aethelwulf
Summary: When a couple of giant lions and a spaceship land just outside Amity Park, Danny is pulled into a conspiracy much larger than the Ghost Zone. (originally posted on tumblr for Christmas Truce 2017)


"Voltron?" Sam says, quirking one eyebrow. "What the hell is a 'voltron'?"

"I don't _know,_ " Tucker insists.

"Sounds rad," Danny adds. He grabs another handful of popcorn from the bowl and shoves it in his mouth.

It's just past lunchtime on a Saturday, and Danny, Sam, and Tucker are lying on the floor of Danny's bedroom. Well, _he's_ lying on the floor. Tucker brought over his laptop and scanner thing that Danny doesn't quite understand, and Sam's there because it wouldn't be right without her.

"I just picked it up on my scanner." Tucker gestures to the little box with the antenna sticking out of it. "That's all it's picking up- something called Voltron. Like I said, I first caught it this morning."

Danny turns over. "Maybe it's a ghost thing?" he says through a mouthful of popcorn.

There's a short pause while Sam nods, deep in thought, and Tucker stares harder at his computer screen. "Sounds like something Technus would think of."

"Voltron. Yeah, I see it," Sam agrees.

It doesn't seem like a big deal now, but it'll probably blow up if they don't check it out. Danny wonders how long they can put it off, but that question is answered almost as soon as he thinks of it when Tucker shoves the scanner between him and Sam.

"Guys, look!" he says urgently. "I think something's happening!"

The word "Voltron" and a bunch of numbers, coordinates maybe, are scrolling across the screen. Finally it lands on a single set of coordinates.

"Where's that?" Danny asks, and watches Tucker frantically type the coordinates into his laptop.

"Just outside of town," Tucker replies.

Sam looks from Danny to Tucker and back. "Do you think we should check it out?"

"Better safe than sorry," Tucker says. "Come on, let's go."

"And I thought this was gonna be a _boring_ Saturday," Danny jokes.

Sam laughs and nudges him. "In Amity Park? Never."

* * *

It's not that far out of town, Danny finds. There's an open field that's close enough to Amity Park that the group can walk, but far enough away that aliens or something could land here and nobody would notice for a long time.

"Do you think something's gonna happen?" he asks Sam, who shrugs.

"I don't know. Maybe."

The trio stares up, looking for a sign. Some kind of grand entrance typical of a ghost.

"Dude," Tucker says suddenly, "what if it's the box ghost?"

Sam and Danny crack up. "Ooooooh!" Sam says. "I am the box ghoooost! I'm back from community college and now I know how screw with Tucker's scanner!" She dissolves into laughter again.

"Isn't it weird how he always introduces himself even though we've met him a bunch of times?" Danny adds. "It's like, yeah, dude, we know who you are. You've got the dumbest obsession a ghost can literally have."

They're still cutting up when the sky above them rips apart. Out of the hole comes what honestly looks like five giant, robotic lions. Flying in the lead is the black lion, the biggest- with a huge set of gleaming wings. Immediately following the lions is a spaceship (castle? Danny isn't sure) that's even bigger than the black lion.

The black lion nods, and each robot-space-thing sinks to the ground with a hiss of hydraulics.

Danny looks at Sam, then at Tucker. Both of them are also staring, mouths wide open.

"I don't think that's Technus," Sam says.

"Let's go check it out!" Danny shouts, and before Sam or Tucker can tell him not to, he starts running towards the spaceship. So they really have no choice but to follow him.

They do. Reluctantly.

As they get closer, the lions' mouths open and out step… humans?

There's a tall man with white hair and a scar, two teen guys, one with a hoodie and the other with a mullet, a scrawny kid and his brother (Danny assumes, they look exactly alike), and a big guy wearing a headband. The castle thing spits out what Danny guesses is a landing pod, and when _its_ doors open, there's two more people- a girl in a futuristic gown, and a guy in an old-timey suit sporting a fabulous mustache.

"Oh, my!" Mustache Man exclaims with a _very_ thick Australian accent. "I think they're _alive!_ "

"We must establish contact with them!" the girl says excitedly. Then, rushing over to Danny, she says, "I am Princess Allura of Altea, and this is Coran, my advisor." She points to the tall man, the hoodie guy, the guy with the mullet, the scrawny kid, the big one, and the scruffy guy. "That's Shiro, Lance, Keith, Pidge, and Hunk. And Matt."

"Uh, hi." Danny rubs the back of his neck. "I'm Danny Fenton, of, uh, Earth, and these are my friends, Sam and Tucker."

"It's an honor to meet you, Danny Fenton," Princess Allura says. "But we must inform you that your village is in terrible danger."

Danny laughs. "Oh- no, we've got the ghost situation under control. Thanks, though."

"Ghost? Is that what you call the Galra here?"

"Oh." Danny stops. "No, uh… what's a Galra?"

"Oh, dear," Coran says. "It's quite the story, you see. The Galra Empire is a legion of evil bent on colonizing the universe, and-"

"Wait a sec." Sam interrupts. "The whole _universe?_ That's impossible." She turns to Tucker. "Who even _are_ these people?"

Keith looks pissed. "We're the paladins of Voltron."

Tucker's mouth drops open for the second time that day.

"Hold up! Voltron? Like," and he pulls out his scanner and thrusts it towards Allura, " _this_ Voltron?"

"Yes, _that_ Voltron," Coran says, brushing him off. "Anyway, I wasn't finished. We're the paladins of Voltron, and that means we defend the galaxy from the Galra! If they try any funny business, we'll-" he makes a karate chop motion with both hands, and includes sound effects. "And then-" he pretends to shoot a gun, again with sound effects. "And we're making great advancements as of late! We have a chance of winning the war!"

Danny feels his insides go cold, but it's not his ghost sense: "War?"

Suddenly Allura is looking at him like _oh, you didn't know?_ "Well, yes," she says after a long pause. "We're winning, you know. It's just…" She turns to Coran. "Perhaps the Galra have not infiltrated this part of the galaxy as we thought?"

"No," the short kid- Pidge- cuts in, showing a scanner almost identical to Tucker's. He looks closely for a moment, then his brow furrows. "That's so weird, they were right there."

"Ha, yeah right. Face it, Pidge, your scanner's busted," Lance says with a laugh.

"That _is_ strange," the princess agrees. She scans the Amity Park skyline thoughtfully, then looks back at Pidge.

"They could be hiding," Pidge says.

"Oh, yeah, 'cause they're _totally_ great at doing that," Lance replies, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I knew this was a bust. We should go."

"Without even looking? I don't think so," Shiro says firmly.

Sam crosses her arms. "Yeah, and I want to hear more about this so-called intergalactic war."

Coran takes a deep breath and launches into what has to be a well-practiced speech. Danny listens in shock- Galra, Voltron, space wars- it all seems too weird to possibly be true. But then again, so did the portal before his parents built it.

"Okay," Tucker says. "I'm just gonna say that ghosts are _probably_ involved and we should check this out, so."

"Perhaps we can discuss this matter with your leaders," Coran says. "Take us to your rebel base!"

Danny rubs the back of his neck. "Well, uh, I don't think the mayor would like this, but I guess we can go back to my house…?"

Sam gives him A Look, which he ignores. "Perfect!" Coran replies. "Onwards, rebels."

"Uh… sure."

* * *

"Hey, who's _this_ hottie?" Lance is holding an Ember McLain album that Jazz, for some reason, hasn't thrown out.

"Okay, no," Sam says, taking the CD from him. "We're not listening to that."

Lance pouts, and Danny moves over to the corner of the room, where Pidge and Tucker seem to have bonded. He catches the end of their conversation- something technology-related, probably beyond his realm of understanding. Ah, well. At least Tucker found someone who understands him.

"And… there we go!" Pidge is saying. He clinks his scanner against Tucker's and they both grin.

"Sweet!" Tucker replies. He types for a few seconds, then presses a button. "Look, it works!"

Sam looks over Tucker's shoulder. "Congratulations," she deadpans. "You invented texting."

"Hey, it works, doesn't it?" Tucker maintains, crossing his arms. "And it doesn't just text. It glows in the dark, too."

Sam raises one eyebrow. "Let me guess, you dunked it in ectoplasm. Yeah, Tucker, that's a _great_ idea."

"Pidge's scanner isn't _from_ this dimension, okay? There's gotta be a link. Besides, I didn't _dunk it in ectoplasm,_ I gently painted it on- do you even care?"

Rolling her eyes, Sam leans in for a closer look. "Yeah, I just think it's irresponsible. Ectoplasm can do a lot of things we don't even know about yet."

Pidge's eyes sparkle. "So that means-"

"No, Pidge, I mean it's really dangerous."

"You say danger," Lance interrupts- and wait, when did he come over? "But I say lots and lots of fun. See, we could have this thing where…" and that's about when Danny stops listening.

However, he does notice Sam's apparent "lightbulb moment" and watches her think for a few moments before stepping forward. "Hold that thought…" She nudges Tucker aside. "Pidge, you said your scanner isn't pick up any life forms?"

"Yeah, must be some kind of malfunction- although I can't find anything wrong with it…"

Sam looks back at Danny, realization dawning in her eyes. "Nothing's wrong with it. You're just scanning the Ghost Zone."

"What?" Pidge looks confused.

"Ghost Zone," Sam says. "It's exactly what it sounds like. A fourth dimension full of ghosts. And look, there's a Galra cruiser and- is that Walker's jail?"

Danny takes a closer look at the screen. Yeah, now that Sam had pointed it out, the landscape Pidge is scanning _does_ look like the Ghost Zone. "Looks like it," Danny says. "Are they… _docking_ there?"

 _Dammit!_ Just like that, the mood changes. Now everyone's huddled around Pidge and Tucker, and even Lance has put on a serious face.

"We've gotta get in and take them out," Keith says, crossing his arms.

Lance throws his hands up. "Well, we can't do that without Voltron!"

"Can he fit through the portal?" Tucker wonders.

"No." In this moment, Danny wishes his parents had just made the portal a little bigger. "There's gotta be another way."

"If it's just a fourth dimension, Allura can open the teludav." Pidge turns questioningly to Allura. "Can't you?"

"I- I'll try," she replies.

"Portals can't just be conjured up, you know!" Coran exclaims. "It takes a lot out of the princess."

Danny feels himself getting frustrated. "Well, we don't have much of a choice, do we? The only way to defeat the Galra is to form Voltron, and the only way to get Voltron into the Ghost Zone is the teludav."

Allura squares her shoulders- and she can look pretty determined when he wants to, Danny thinks. "It can be done. If it's the only way, then… I'll do it."

For a while, the room is silent. Only the sound of Tucker and Pidge typing fills the quiet. _How much does it take to open the teludav?_ Danny wonders.

 _I don't know why Coran is so against it. It's not like we can cram the Lions through the portal._

He sighs.

"So come on," Lance says suddenly, jumping to his feet. "Let's go kick some Galra butt!"

"Slow down there, cowboy." Keith places a hand on Lance's shoulder. "We don't know anything about this place."

Pidge adjusts his glasses and agrees. "The Ghost Zone is different from Galra-controlled space. And Danny, Sam, and Tucker know more about it than we do."

Nobody says anything for a bit.

"I know my way around the Ghost Zone," Danny says. "And I'm the only one who can turn invisible, so."

Coran nods resolutely, then, an idea strikes him. "What kind of cloaking device are you using? Perhaps we could modify it and-"

"No," Sam interrupts him. "It, uh, doesn't work like that. Danny, want to explain?"

Danny nods. "It was a couple months before the start of freshman year. My parents- you know they built the portal, right? Anyway, it wasn't working so great at first, I mean, they've got it fine-tuned now, but at that point it was still mostly a prototype.

"They'd been trying to perfect it for a really long time, but it still didn't quite work, and they eventually just quit. So- yes, I know this was stupid of me- but I decided I wanted to take a look inside. And for some reason, at that point, the portal started working."

He shrugs.

"Anyway, there was this great big flash and I passed out, and when I woke up, I was dead."

Silence. Danny looks around the room. The paladins, Allura, and Coran are staring, mouths open. Sam and Tucker just look annoyed.

"Come on, Danny," Sam sighs, sounding exactly like she looks. "Tell the truth, you're scaring them."

"Okay, okay, fine. I was only _half_ dead. Is that better?"

"No, not really," Pidge says.

"Actually, yeah, it is, 'cause now I can do cool stuff like _this!_ " Danny jumps up and turns into his ghost form. "Check it!"

Pidge's glasses fall down his nose, but he doesn't bother pushing them back up. "Wow…" he breathes. "Okay, you're right."

Danny goes invisible and says, "See? Best man for the job."

Allura nods. "Good. Now, here's the plan…"

* * *

Now Danny's back at Walker's jail, while everybody else is still probably sitting in his room, and the Ghost Zone looks just as green and horrible as it always does. _Just another normal day. Oh wait, I'm Danny Fenton. There's no such thing as normal._

What looks like a high-ranking Galra officer walks past and- oh, shit, there's Walker! Danny disappears just as they round the corner. He overhears the end of their conversation:

"Now, what am I getting out of this?" Walker says.

"Hmm… Perhaps we could arrange a deal with Zarkon for a share of universal domination? Or would you prefer some sort of gift basket?" the Galra soldier replies.

"No, no, universal domination sounds good. And all we need to do is supply the ectoplasm?"

"That's right."

"If you don't mind me asking… what exactly _is_ quintessence?"

"Well…" The Galra soldier falters for a moment. "I'm not sure the High Priestess would like me giving you _too much_ information…"

"Understandable. Pleasure doing business with you anyway."

"And with you. Vrepit Sa."

"Eh, yeah." Walker does a clumsy salute as the Galra soldier climbs into his ship.

 _Quintessence?_ Danny wonders as the Galran ship takes off. _I feel like that's important for some reason. Wonder where I've heard it before. Quintessence, quintessence, quintessence… nope._

 _Guess I'll just tell the paladins. It's probably nothing._

* * *

" _QUINTESSENCE?_ " Pidge shouts. "Those sons of quiznaks! That is how you use that word, right?"

"Eh, not really," Coran replies.

"We've gotta stop them!" Lance says, ignoring him. "Allura, you've gotta open the teludav _now!_ "

Allura rises silently and nods. "Let's go. Coran, prepare to open the teludav. But first-" she pulls out a set of (what look like) futuristic headsets from seemingly nowhere- "Danny Fenton, Sam, Tucker. Take these."

"Thanks," Danny says.

"On it, princess!" Coran snaps to attention and the two of them race off to the Castle.

"We'll be in the basement," Danny says, and he, Sam, and Tucker run out of the room too. Sam climbs into the Specter Speeder and turns it on. Danny and Tucker put on their headsets, and are inserted into the middle of a conversation between the paladins.

"Okay, team," Shiro says into the headsets. "Form-"

" _I'M GOIN' GHOST!_ " Danny shouts. "Oh, sorry."

"Form Voltron," Shiro finishes, sounding peeved.

Danny shrugs- _eh, what can you do-_ as the white rings surround him and suddenly he's Phantom again. He lifts a few feet into the air, maybe it's just an unconscious thing at this point. Hopping into the Specter Speeder with Sam (putting her headset on) and Tucker, as Allura's no doubt beginning to open the teludav for Voltron to go through, a surge of adrenaline goes through him.

Sam guns the engine, and they jolt into the Ghost Zone. And it's a surprisingly long time before something goes wrong: about five minutes, to be exact. But because they are Danny, Sam, and Tucker, something _does_ go wrong.

"I've lost all contact with Voltron," Tucker says, banging the scanner against the dashboard as if that will help.

Danny gets a sinking feeling in his stomach. "You're sure? There's nothing?"

"Yeah. I'll try to get back online but I don't know what we're gonna do until then."

There's a few moments of silence as Tucker tinkers, and Danny simply waits. "I can't find anything wrong with it!" Tucker finally says. "It just… doesn't work!"

"It's gotta be the spectral energy," Sam says. "It's somehow interfering with our comm link." She pauses, and then: "Tucker, do you still have that scanner?"

"Yeah, why- _OH!_ Sam, if this works, you're officially a genius."

She gives him a smug smile. Danny leans over Tucker's shoulder to see what he's typing- unsurprisingly, it reads: "hey dude theres smth wrong w the comm link"

A moment later, Pidge replies. "I know. I'm working on it."

"Tell him he can't fix it here!"

"I'm trying, Sam!"

Danny leans back as Sam and Tucker bicker, and stares out the window until Walker's jail races into view. "Sam!" he says. "Let me out here, okay? And stay out of sight until the paladins get here."

"Got it."

With that, Danny jumps out of the speeder and into what is probably going to be the most interesting battle of his life. He shoots towards Walker's jail, unseen for now, but that's about to change. He's going to distract the guards until the lions can enter the portal, hopefully buying them time. It's not going to be easy.

But Danny Phantom doesn't do easy.

"Hey!" he shouts, catching the guards' attention. "I'm back for round two! Let's _go!_ "

The guards shout at him, and he flies in for a hit. He shoots two rays of ecto-energy in quick succession. They land right on their targets, and the guards fly back to hit the wall behind them.

But the fight's not over yet. They quickly recover and come back to return the favor. Danny blocks two attacks and darts upwards. Now that he's flying above the jail, he sees the portal begin to open. That's a good sign.

"Hey, stupid!" he yells. "Over here!" He flies in small, dizzying circles around the guards. One of them lunges for him, but Danny is faster. He darts out of the way just in time. The other guard, however, isn't so lucky. The first one slams into the second and they both fall to the ground in a heap.

Danny darts up again to check the portal. It's fully opened now. But Voltron is nowhere to be seen.

"Sam?" he says.

"Right here. Where's Voltron?"

"I was about to ask you that." He pauses. "Is Tucker still talking to Pidge?"

On the other end of the line, he hears Sam tapping the dashboard. "No. We don't know what's wrong this time." More tapping. "Actually, I would assume we'd lose contact while they're going through the portal. So…"

"Wait a second, I think I see them!" Danny flies closer and- Voltron slowly drifts through the portal.

And it is _huge._

Danny stares for way longer than he should. It's a robotic man built out of lions- which, admittedly, seems weird when he thinks about it like that, but it's a technological wonder anyway.

"Wow…"

His headset crackles to life. "Still there?"

"Yeah." Danny shakes his head as if to clear it. "They're here."

"Okay, we're- actually, I think I see you."

Sam and Tucker race into view. Suddenly, Danny's headset comes back to life- he can hear Shiro shouting at the paladins. "Shiro, I'm back!" he interrupts. "I can hear you again."

"Same here," Tucker replies.

They don't have time to celebrate. Apparently, the Galra officers here have noticed the giant metal man floating near the jail, and are readying themselves for a fight. Voltron goes in for the first hit, and Danny flies in to take out some more guards.  
Seven Galra officers jump into the smaller ships, but the larger one looks reserved for the leader of the operation. With its arm cannon, Voltron takes one small ship by surprise and completely obliterates it. The others, however, put up their shields and begin firing.

"Stay out of the way!" Shiro orders, and Danny knows that's meant for him, Sam, and Tucker.

He's narrowly missed by a shot from the Galra ship and decides that's a good idea. "Come on, in here!" he says, motioning for Sam and Tucker to follow. "Let's go take care of Walker."

Sam (armed with blasters of all sizes) and Tucker (content with letting Sam do the heavy lifting) climb out of the speeder and the three of them duck inside the jail. "Do we know where the quintessence actually is?" Tucker asks.

Danny shrugs. "I see that as a minor setback."

"Just follow the trail of guards," Sam adds, rolling her eyes. "Where there's more Galra, there's bound to be something important.

"Wow, Sam, you're on a roll today!" Tucker jokes. Sam ignores him, and starts looking around for any sign of the Galra.

"Let's just go straight," Danny suggests. "We don't really have any better options."

Tucker agrees, and Sam shrugs. They all take off running. At the end of the hall is a four-way intersection. Sam looks around the corner and immediately flattens herself against the wall.

"Galra," she whispers.

Danny nods. The plan is basically this: turn invisible, take out whoever he can. Sam and Tucker have his back. He fades out of sight and rounds the corner. And Sam was most definitely _not_ wrong.

"Pride and Prejudice," he mutters.

There's a Galra soldier every two feet, pretty much. All the way down the hall. At the end of the hall is a door, which Danny assumes leads to the quintessence.  
He takes out three guards, then shouts for Sam and Tucker to help him. The three blast their way down the hall, dodging returned fire from the guards. One of them looks like he's calling for help, but Sam blasts his comm and then him.

"Watch out!" Danny shouts. Launching himself at Tucker, both of them are just missed by a blast from the end of the hall. Sam squints, aims, and picks the guard off.

"Nice shot, Sam," Tucker says. "And thanks, Danny."

"It's not over yet. Come on, let's keep moving."

They keep doing what they're doing: shoot, duck, get pushed back, shoot some more. After what seems like hours, every single Galra soldier is lying stunned on the ground, and Sam, Danny, and Tucker are standing in front of the locked door.

"How do we get in?" Tucker asks.

Sam blasts the lock, and the door swings open. Danny nods in approval.

Inside is... not quintessence. There are barrels, yes, but lifting the lid reveals only a green, sticky substance that tastes kind of limey (not that Danny's ever willingly put ectoplasm in his mouth. That stuff's like blood to him now).

"Damn it!" Sam says. "Alright, let's keep looking."

"Wait," Tucker says. "I don't think this is a trap or anything. Look, they were actually in the middle of shipping these." He points to the open shipping port and sure enough, a couple more barrels are stacked outside, as if hastily left.

"What are they doing with straight-up ectoplasm?" Danny asks.

"Hold on." Sam pushes a button on her headset. "Shiro, what is quintessence actually made of?"

Danny and Tucker hear his reply: "Pure energy."

"So, like, theoretically, it could be mined from something else?"

"Yes, that's possible."

"I think that's what they're doing here."

Danny thinks for a moment- yes, it all makes sense now. Walker is selling ectoplasm to the Galra, who is going to turn it into quintessence. "We have to take it," he says, deadly serious.

Sam nods. "How's the fight?" she asks Shiro.

"Almost- done. Hold on..." They can hear blasting in the background.

In the meantime, Tucker kicks a barrel over. It rolls out to the shipping port, and stops by the door.

"I'll bring the speeder around," Sam says, and darts out the door.

She pulls up outside and helps them roll each barrel into the speeder. Now outside, Danny watches Voltron run a giant sword through the cruiser, and that is pretty much that. "We're going to get out of here," Shiro says. "We'll meet up in front of your base." With that, Voltron goes back through the portal.

Danny is stuck taking the long way home.

"That was... weird," Sam says. One of the barrels of ectoplasm rolls over. "What should we do with those?"

"I guess just keep them in the basement. Mom and Dad will love their 'gift.'"

"Okay," Tucker says. "No more ghosts for me. I'm swearing it off- Sam, why are you laughing? I'm serious this time..."

Danny just smiles.

* * *

There's a ring of police tape around the lions- apparently, they've decided that Voltron isn't paranormal activity. Tucker thinks it's kind of funny, to be honest. A crowd has gathered around them.

Tucker nudges Pidge with his elbow. "You're a pretty cool guy, you know that?"

"Um," Pidge says. "About that."

Two minutes later, Tucker decided that his whole life is a lie.

"Sorry," Pidge says. He- no, _she_ \- gives a short laugh. "It's a common mistake, and I kept the Matt look because, well… it's grown on me."

"So, like, you want me to call you Katie? Or just Pidge?"

"Pidge would be nice."

Tucker gives her a half-smile and holds out his hand for her to shake. "Nice to meet ya, Pidge."

They both turn around when they hear Keith calling her name. She hops off the ledge and runs towards him. Tucker's sure she's not going to look back, but she does.

She waves. Tucker waves back, and thinks he'll miss her when she goes back to space.

* * *

Danny, standing by the mouth of the Blue Lion, watches as Coran escorts Allura back to the Castle. He lifts a hand in farewell to them, and after a minute or so, the portal opens. As if on cue, the other paladins climb into their lions. They wave back to Danny before each lion's mouth shuts and they prepare to take off.

Except Lance's.

Matt, having apparently noticed, walks back out of Blue's mouth and asks, "Where's Lance?"

"Probably off enjoying the attention," Danny thinks wryly. _They've got this place taped up like somebody died._

"Well, uh… help me look for him?"

"Sure."

Turns out, Danny is wrong. He finds Lance standing on the street and just kind of staring- obviously not enjoying the attention. He looks weirdly spaced out. Danny walks over and taps his shoulder. "Uh, dude? They're getting ready to go. Are you okay?"

"That's… That's my uncle," Lance replies, sounding somewhat in shock.

"What?"

"My uncle. He's here-"

Coran cuts in. "Lance, where are you? Allura's getting tired, you know! Let's move it, shall we?"

"He's not from your reality," Sam explains. "It won't do you any good. You're not real to him."

Lance looks back, and Danny is surprised to see his eyes are shining with tears. "He's real to me," he says.

"Lance, the teludav is about to close!" Sam pushes him towards the waiting mouth of the Blue Lion. "There's no time, Lance. I'm sorry."

Danny pulls Sam and Tucker away from the Lions- far enough away to safely watch them take off. He sees Lance turn back towards the man and stare, maybe hoping his uncle will look if he stares hard enough. Still oblivious, Lance's uncle silently takes orders from the police officer, and he turns to leave when-

" _TIO CARLOS!_ " comes Lance's shout.

The man turns. It's obvious that he recognizes Lance, but it's impossible to know what he's thinking. Danny looks back at the Lion just in time to see its mouth shut, separating Lance from his uncle.

"Are our dimensions similar enough?" Tucker is saying.

"God, I hope so," Sam replies.

Maybe Lance is missing here too. Maybe his family will have hope now.

With Matt at its helm, the Blue Lion leaps into the sky and disappears into the teludav, which closes an instant afterwards.

Danny watches Lance's uncle push the police officer aside and run to where the Lion stood seconds ago. He stares upwards, no doubt wondering where Lance is now.

Although Danny can't hear the man, it's clear what he whispers: "Lance…"

* * *

The next day, everything is back to normal.

Jazz drives him to school. Dash shoves him in a locker. Sam and Tucker hang out with him during lunch.

He hears whispers about the Lions at the back of math class, and wonders where the paladins are now. He hopes Lance's uncle told the rest of the family Lance is alive, and that maybe their dimensions aren't so different. Maybe they're in some kind of space battle now. Voltron captivated him yesterday, and he missed, like, 80% of that fight.

He feels different now, too. They're in the middle of a war, an intergalactic war. The Galra knows where the Ghost Zone is now. He might have to deal with that later, but he can't say he's scared.

Although he can't explain it, he knows they'll win the war. They have to. The Lions are in good hands.

THE END


End file.
